Charles Valterayn
Name: Charles ValteraynTitle(S): His Grace the Duke of Shalgora. Patriarch of the Noble House of Valterayn. Longshanks. The old dog. Age: 57 Gender: Male Race: Breton Appearance: Standing at the height of 6ft 1inches, Charles is tall by Bretic Standards. As such, he has taken the nickname of Longshanks into his stride. In his middle age, His Grace has greying dark blonde hair, as well as growing a greying dark blonde beard, a short one at that, and has dark brown eyes. His hair is short and wavy, being combed back in some places for a groomed appearance as apposed to that of a wild uncontrolled one. His Grace has a firm body build, he is able to still wear his old armour and wield his sword, though now he prefers to wield his Quill and parchment. What Charles chooses to wear however is a completely different matter, he wears Knee height Black Leather boots with black breeches and white socks, visible only if one took off the Dukes boots. Next comes the majority of his wear, he wears a doublet with the thigh area rather puffed, it is a majority black, but it has slashes in it which show crimson, so a subtle mix of black and crimson. Moving upwards, the Doublet which covers his torso is a dark crimson. Charles then wears under his doublet a long-sleeved white linen shirt, the collar is comfortable, there are no ruffs, it is just a plain and simple collar. The Duke does not wear hats. His clothing is just similar tothis. Apart from the lower half , the hat and the doublet, so just the necklace and the jacket, the red one with the gold trimmings. Its cuffs however are rather pronounced, but only slightly so, as where the cuffs emerge, the rest of the wear stops, so the cuffs extend about three centimetres out in their slightly cuffed white glory. Going back to the main ensemble, we come to the Doublet as it passes around the Dukes shoulders and armpits, where it is once again a simple black doublet, for its upper half its just a jacket basically. Then over the Doublet and the white linen shirt for the rest comes a rather fashionable and comfortable looking coat, it’s the jacket Henry VIII wears in the linked picture two paragraphs above including this one, the one that ends at the elbows for further details, only with black fur lining rather than the dark-reddish colour. Around the Dukes waist comes his black leather belt with its steel buckle, to keep everything(apart from the outer jacket) secure, upon this belt comes the Dukes coin-purse and a simple steel dagger with a ruby inset in its hilt. He wears a necklace similar to the one in the picture, only with Rubies and at its lowest point is a solid gold hound’s head. The outfit stays the same for each day, but the colour changes every so often, but it always comes back to the Crimson of House Valterayn. Skills: Charles considers his most valuable asset to be his mind, mainly in making more money to add to his already considerable fortune His second skill is his agility, speed and skill with his longsword, a fine hand, a very fine hand actually, the Duke can often be looked at during his exercises in his exercise hall with no small of amazement. Mainly as these exercises involve dancing and stretching rather than actually duelling, though he does that too. The Duke is also rumoured to be rather good at lock-picking, and is rather good at lock-picking. So his three skills by in-game standards are: Mercantile, Blade and Security. Charles knows the basic theories of magic, but cannot practice it, being a completely non-magical Breton, that is to say, devoid of any magical skills. Equipment(Weapons, Armour, Misc.): For Weapons, the Duke utilises a simple Steel Longsword and in addition to that, a steel dagger with a ruby inset in its pommel. For his Armour, the Duke wears Steel Plate Armour and in a cavalry charge, will ride his war horse, an armoured Black Stallion named "Havoc". As for Misc. Items, he has his signet ring, a lock-picking set and whatever money he has on him really. Background: The business life of Charles Valterayn is rather simple, the only child of the previous Duke and Duchess of Shalgora, Charles had a priviliged upbrining located mostly in the Country Estate of the Duchy of Shalgora, or rather, Valterayn Manor. His acumen with numbers was present from an early age, by the time he was twelve he could do mathematics and make sensible business investments sure to make a profit. It is here he began forging his fortune, with his allowance from his parents, Charles began trading. By the time he was twenty four, he was generating huge sums of Money, he owned and had set up his own Company "The Valterayn Company". Charles made investments in gold and ruby trading, he slowly built himself a business empire, over the entire Dukedom of Shalgora, and in Shalgora it has stayed, For Charles doesn't intrude on the other areas of High Rock, he has a gentleman's agreement in his opinion, no one tries to set up their own businesses in Shalgora and he doesn't set up his own businesses in their areas, he'll trade, but not dominate. When his parents passed due to a rather convenient illness after an argument between parents and child over how much Charles truly earned, Charles took his place as Duke of Shalgora at the age of 25 and immediately set to work. Merging the Shalgora-state owned businesses and his own, Charles was now making titanic sums of money. The Oblivion Crisis provided Charles with a huge financial gain, he began buying and selling much needed weapons, armour and most of all, gold, with interest of course. After the Crisis, Charles then began selling the necessary supplies for rebuilding what had been destroyed in terms of structures. By now Charles was thirty six, allying himself with Daggerfall, Charles loaned Daggerfall a share the money it needed to fight its wars and by extension protect Shalgora. Charles provided Daggerfall with steel and arrows and the supplies it needed to fight, simultaeneously selling to the other side as well, for a higher price of course, bankrupting the enemy was a strategic victory. Trading with Hammerfell, Cyrodiil, the Aldmeri Dominion and at a rather wide reach, Elsweyr, Charles has a lot of enterprises, generating him a lot of money, his businesses trade with Camlorn now, albeit in areas Charles wants a profit on, his motto is simple. “Damn the morals to Oblivion and make a clear profit” It is this attitude that means his attitude towards his Duchy is simply one of Business, whatever profits him most is the path he chooses, with exceptions every now and then. The Dukes personal history is rather, less business orientated. At the age of eight Charles strolled into the Servants Quarters of Valterayn House alone and there found in a corner after some exploring, a crying fair maiden, who happened to be a servant as well, his words to this serving girl was, rather nonchalantly. “Aren’t you meant to be, I don’t know, Cleaning? Rather than snivelling” Well the crying girl turned out to be a Dark Elf eight year old girl by the name of Belle, being an orphan adopted by the Valterayn House Household and so named, Belle. Belle explained her predicament to Charles, who promptly did something about it, finding the fifteen year old stable-boy who had stolen Belle’s hair ribbon which was her only link to her parentage, having been left on the doorstep with the ribbon. The stable-boy being new and not having yet seen the master, punched Charles, who came back with two guards and had the stable-boy hung for striking him, and as it turned out, stealing a few bits of silverware from the Valterayn kitchen, both offences punishable with death by hanging. Minus the hanging of the stable-boy, Belle was overjoyed by the returning of the ribbon and so Charles, rather pleased with himself having earned a hug, a profit in his opinion, decided to see some more of Belle when he could. The years went by and the friendship grew, until Charles was 17, when it became something more. However it came to an end with Charles turning 18, Belle was found to have some magical talent and packed off to the nearest mage as an apprentice and Charles moving to Shalgora to better manage his growing business. At twenty-three Charles married for money, it was an unhappy marriage. The wife died after giving birth to Charles only child two years later, a boy who sadly didn’t survive the next week. Charles now Duke of Shalgora was busy distracting himself from his own feelings, until the winter when a new Parlour maid was required. What happened was unexpected for Charles, his steward by chance selected Belle as the Parlour Maid, Charles only learnt this when looking up from his books in his study and meeting the eyes of an amazed Belle. The two regaled old times and fell in love all over again. Well, the Duke being a Duke and newly widowed, wasn’t allowed to take Belle as his wife, as well as the fact that Belle was from a noble family, and though now ennobled, cannot be taken as a wife because of this, so had to be taken as a Mistress. At the age of 39, coming back from a ten month long business trip, in his arms was another daughter, this one by a Breton mother. Charles explained his story in front of Belle, he’d been at some lords castle in Daggerfall, when he’d fallen ill and so been treated by the daughter of the lord. Well, Charles being feverish, once he’d recovered, had stayed and enjoyed the company of the lord, as well as growing to be friends with the lords daughter, and then after a night of feasting and a lot of drinking, had slept with the lady. The result had been a daughter, The lord’s daughter had died giving birth to this daughter and the Lord in a classic example of Bretic melodrama, had killed himself, though Charles ended up gaining a large profit from this, buying the lands and selling them piece by piece to the highest bidders. Charles then revealed that to save the Lord’s Daughter’s honour, he’d married the lord’s daughter, or so he claimed, and this meant that the Daughter he now held in his arms was set to inherit Shalgora, their other daughter Eleanor being born out of wedlock and so unable to inherit the lands and title. Belle took this extremely well and raised the daughter, named Louise, as her own. Since then it’s been smooth sailing, no other children, yet, the family is like so, in age order: His Grace Charles Valterayn, Duke of Shalgora – 57 years of age. Lady Belle, 57 years of Age, looks like Eleanor, only with longer hair and more mature looking features. Lady Eleanor, 38 years of Age, looks like so, still looking like she’s in her early twenties. Countess Louise of Penwych, 19 years of Age, Looks like so, set to inherit the Duchy of Shalgora. Personality: The Duke is warm, knowing people by first name basis and allowing them to call him by his first name back. He is however extremely protective of his family, going as far to find people who have caused grievance against any of his family members and “Removing them from the equation.” When it comes to Business however, it is purely in his interests to make a profit, for as his well known phrase says, well-known as he said it in front of the King of Daggerfall. “Damn the morals to Oblivion and make a clear profit” It all boils down to one thing with business and Charles Valterayn: Profit, unless it's his close family. In battle the Duke is calm, though he’ll shout a lot if needs be. Category:Nobility Category:Daggerfall Category:Characters Category:High Rock Category:Shalgora Category:Breton